Astana GP Round 4: Vaishali splits the point with Tan Zhongyi
IM Vaishali R made a solid draw against GM Tan Zhongyi (CHN). The India no.3 woman drew her game as she had very less time on the clock against the former women's world champion. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk suffered her second loss out of four games at FIDE Astana GP. This time she lost to WGM Dinara Wagner (GER). WGM Zhu Jiner (CHN) defeated IM Polina Shuvalova to become coleader with GM Aleksandra Goryachkina at 3/4 each. IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) and GM Kateryan Lagno trailing them by a half point at 2.5/4. Vaishali is now at 1.5/4. She will battle against WGM Dinara in the fifth round which starts today at 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman
Zhu Jiner and Goryachkina in the lead
The fourth round witnessed two decisive games. Former Women's World champion, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk is certainly showing some rust in her form. She lost her second game out of four. Both losses were with white pieces. It is difficult to recollect when was the last time the inaugural Women's World Cup winner had such a difficult start.
Shuvalova - Jiner: 0-1
IM Polina Shuvalova (2510) first got an opportunity against WGM Zhu Jiner (CHN, 2464) in the major piece endgame.
White needed to push f6 here whether before or after trading the queens is irrelevant. 35.Qxd5 Rxd5 36.f6+ Kg8 37.Rh6 Rexe5 38.Reh1 is one of the ways to seize the advantage. The game eventually liquidated into a rook endgame.
White can save the game by making sure she has Kg5 when the rook is on a6 and king is at h7. Thus, taking the h6-pawn is not a realistic possibility as a5-pawn will drop. Failing to figure out the correct correspondence squares will result in White's loss which is what happened in the game. It is like one of those 4x4 or 5x5 tile puzzles where you can only move one tile at a time, one wrong move and you mess things up further. In this case, a wrong move immediately makes it losing for White. 62.Rg4+ Kh8 63.Ra4 Kh7 now White cannot play Kf5 as the pawn is no longer tactically defended and Kg5 is met by Ra6. Thus, 64.Ra1 a4 65,Ra3 Kg8 and White lost the game in the next few moves.
Kosteniuk - Dinara: 0-1
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk is having a tough form in this tournament. Not playing a lot of Classical games for the better part of the year is certainly affecting her performance.
It is not everyday that you see a player of Kosteniuk's calibre, do not manage to convert advantages like she had in the above position. 20.Ne6, Rae1 moves flow naturally. Black's kingside is quite exposed and something seems like will go in White's way. The game continued 20.Bd6 Rf7 21.Rae1 Rd8 and soon things turned completely in Black's favor. WGM Dinara Wagner seized her opportunity and went on to win the game.
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Round 4 Results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
| 1 | 12 | 2510 | IM | Shuvalova Polina | 0 - 1 | WGM | Zhu Jiner | 2464 | 8 | |||
| 2 | 9 | 2503 | GM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | ½ - ½ | IM | Paehtz Elisabeth | 2477 | 7 | |||
| 3 | 10 | 2521 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 0 - 1 | WGM | Wagner Dinara | 2358 | 6 | |||
| 4 | 11 | 2449 | IM | Vaishali R | ½ - ½ | GM | Tan Zhongyi | 2525 | 5 | |||
| 5 | 1 | 2579 | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | ½ - ½ | IM | Assaubayeva Bibisara | 2443 | 4 | |||
| 6 | 2 | 2547 | GM | Lagno Kateryna | ½ - ½ | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2491 | 3 |
Round 5 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
| 1 | 3 | 2491 | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | IM | Shuvalova Polina | 2510 | 12 | ||||
| 2 | 4 | 2443 | IM | Assaubayeva Bibisara | GM | Lagno Kateryna | 2547 | 2 | ||||
| 3 | 5 | 2525 | GM | Tan Zhongyi | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | 2579 | 1 | ||||
| 4 | 6 | 2358 | WGM | Wagner Dinara | IM | Vaishali R | 2449 | 11 | ||||
| 5 | 7 | 2477 | IM | Paehtz Elisabeth | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2521 | 10 | ||||
| 6 | 8 | 2464 | WGM | Zhu Jiner | GM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | 2503 | 9 |
